The principal utility of the invention is to provide a means for routing wires, cords and connectors from electrical devices through the surfaces of furniture articles to their intended destinations. The invention serves the practical needs of both protecting the wires from sharp unprotected edges caused from boring an access channel through the surface of a furniture article and of increasing the available surface workspace by channeling the wires neatly into discrete openings instead of running such wires across the surface of the furniture object.
Devices for routing wiring through the surfaces of furniture articles exist. One such device is shown in U.S. Pat. No. 285,044 of Mockett. This device comprises an annular liner member and a flat circular disk-shaped cap having a slot-like opening sized to accommodate the passage of wires or cords. The liner comprises a cylindrical sleeve and a collar that extends about the outer circumference of one end of the sleeve. The liner is inserted into a slightly larger sized hole bored in the surface of a furniture object until the collar of the liner comes to rests against the furniture's surface. The liner has a central bore which is relatively large to enable connectors and plugs to be passed through it; that opening is much larger than the opening required to accommodate the wires or cables to which the plugs or connectors are connected. The wiring or cord is then placed into the cap's slot-like opening and the cap is mounted within the liner until the underside of the cap rests against liner's collar. In its mounted position, the cap's top surface is above and not coplanar with the furniture surface. The cap closes the liner opening except for the slot in the cap through which the wires, cords or cables pass.
Another type of device is shown in U.S. Pat. No. 3,783,175 of Timmons. Like the Mockett device, this device comprises a liner member and a disk-shaped cap possessing a slot opening for the passage of an electrical cord through an office desk. The liner in this device does not contain a collar like the liner in Mockett. The liner is inserted into a slightly larger hole bore in the surface of the office desk such that one of its ends is slightly recessed from the surface of the office desk. The electrical cord is then placed into the cap's slot opening and the cap is then mounted within the sleeve. Unlike Mockett, when mounted within the liner, the cap's surface is coplanar with the surface of the office desk.
Another type of device is shown in U.S. Pat. No. 4,053,701 of Ogilvie et al. This device comprises a liner member and a cap member having a slot opening for the passage of wires through the surface of a furniture article. The liner member comprises a three sided U-shaped sleeve. The sleeve is slidably inserted into a slightly larger U-shaped channel cut into the surface of a furniture article proximate a marginal edge. The cap comprises a rectangular flat disk that is slid into the U-shaped liner such that the cap's outer marginal edge is coterminous with that of the furniture object. Wiring is then inserted into the cap's opening and through the surface of the furniture article.
Devices of the kind reviewed above are known in the furniture industry as wire management grommets. The devices in Mockett, Timmons, Ogilvie et al have a disadvantage. They do not provide cover for the cap opening when the grommet is not in use, i.e., when no wires or cords are passed through the hole in the work surface in which the device is installed. Thus, when not being used to route wiring through the surface of a furniture article, the furniture surface is left with an open hole. This is aesthetically undesirable. It is also functionally objectionable. Material on the work surface can fall through the open hole.
For maximum utility and convenience a grommet that is not in use should provide a means to cover the unused opening, a means that is readily available, easy to use and which, when placed in position, is as inconspicuous as possible. Accordingly, a device that provides for convenient, complete and secure covering of the cap opening when not in use is highly desirable.
Devices which address the need to provide a closure for a cap opening in wire management grommets are known. These devices are similar to those described above. But they also provide a separate cover or closure that can be placed in the cap opening when the opening is not being used for the passage of wires or cables. However, their utility is limited. Because the cap opening cover is not captive to the cap, it can be easily lost or misplaced.
Other devices have tried to remedy this security problem by providing a storage receptacle in the underside of the cap for the separate closure member. While an improvement, it is less than an ideal solution. Because the cap opening cover is separate, it can be easily dislodged from its storage position and lost. For best security, the cover should be a captive part of the cap.
A device that attempted to address this latter problem is shown in U.S. Pat. No. 4,730,363 of Asbaghi. This device comprises a annular liner and a flat-topped cylindrical cap having both an opening and a retractable closure for that opening movably held captive to the cap. The liner comprises a cylindrical sleeve and a collar extending about the circumference of one of the sleeve's ends. The liner is inserted within a slightly larger hole bored into the surface of a furniture article until the collar's underside rests against the surface of the furniture object. The cap is then inserted within the liner until the cap's underside comes to rest on the collar's top surface. The cap contains a closure or lid captive to the cap and which can be positioned to cover the cap opening when not in use, i.e., when no wires or the like are passed through the cap opening. A retaining rail depends from the underside of the cap and is positioned across the closed-end portion of the slot-like cap opening such that a gap, equal to the thickness of the lid, exists between the retaining rail and the closed end of the opening. The lid resides within the gap and comprises a bar depending from the underside of the lid positioned across the width of the lid proximate its end communicating with the closed end of the cap opening. The length of the bar is greater than the width of the gap. Accordingly, when pulled upward and away from the cap's top surface, the lid is prevented from disengaging the cap through interaction between the retainer rail and the bar. The lid also comprises a lip that depends from the underside of the lid which restricts the downward travel of the lid through the gap. In the closed position, the lid covers the cap opening and is coplanar with the cap's top surface. To expose the cap opening, the marginal edge of the lid is lifted upward causing the lid to slide loosely downward within the gap until the lid's lip comes into contact with the cap's retainer rail.
Although this device addresses the need for furnishing a captive member to cover the cap opening, it has several disadvantages. In the vertical stored position, the slot cover hangs from the center of the cap. This leaves the cover as well as its support mechanism clearly visible, a feature that is aesthetically undesirable. The design also allows the tip of the cap cover to protrude above the surface of the cap thus creating an irritating obstruction in an otherwise smooth work surface. Hanging the cover from the center of the cap also has a functional disadvantage. The cover hangs in a position adjacent to the opening and can hinder the clear passage of wires or cables through the cap opening.
Further disadvantages of the current art relate to the integrity of the cover when placed within the cap opening. Friction between cap and cover surfaces or between cover and liner surfaces is commonly relied upon to keep the cover securely in position within the cap opening. The disadvantage is that as the contact surfaces wear, the cap and cover become less secure. In cases where the contact is between the cover and interior liner surface, when the cap is removed from the liner, the cover is unsupported and easily falls out of the cap opening.
In a device for routing wires and cords from electrical devices through the surfaces of furniture articles to their intended destinations, it is highly desirable that the device comprise a captive cover to close the cap opening when not in use. A need exists for such a wire management grommet device which is free of the deficiencies noted above.